All right, I'll just come right out and say it: I like the Rembrandts. (hops deftly onto soapbox)
What's that, you say? The guys who did the Friends song? The one they played 800 times an hour on every radio station in America during the summer of 1995? What the hell is wrong with you???
Well, I'm here (or herre, as Nelly and my sausage fingers would say) (Nelly and the Sausage Fingers would be a great band name) to tell you that the Rembrandts are about way more than "I'll Be There For You" (which, as I just learned from a little all-knowing oracle I like to call Wikipedia, was originally offered to They Might Be Giants, of all people). In fact, they didn't even really want to put it on their album coming out that year, but there was so much pressure from fans and the label that they eventually had to tack it on as a bonus track.
Anyway, this now comes up because I recently re-discovered them... after my 14-year-old self bought the album with the Friends song on it solely for said song and discovered that I actually liked the other songs on it OK, I went back and bought their first two albums and liked them OK too. Unfortunately, then they split up for a bit and one of the guys released a TERRIBLE album as "Danny Wilde + The Rembrandts" which ruined the franchise for me forever... at least, so I thought at the time. But I just learned the other day (also via Wikipedia) that they in fact reunited and released another studio album in 2001 called Lost Together. I was dubious, but a sense of nostalgia and a few amazon.com reviews swearing up and down that this album was a true return to form, much better than that "Danny Wilde + The Rembrandts" crap, were enough to convince me. I ordered a copy, and you know what?
... It ain't half bad. No Pet Sounds or Sgt. Pepper, perhaps, but it's pretty good. The first two tracks are very catchy, as is another located somewhere in the middle. The production throughout is excellent... very crisp, so all the parts stand out from each other *just* enough to create a nice, nuanced polyphony. But not overproduced, no no... there's still a bit of rawness there. And there's not a droner in the bunch... even the non-standout tracks are perfectly acceptable examples of 2-man singer/songwriter type acoustic rock.
At any rate, I know these guys are going to be another Chumbawamba (not just one-hit wonders! not just one-hit wonders!) for me, but I wanted to take a second to recognize these guys for writing some decent songs in their time, even if they were overshadowed by one enormous (and admittedly, insanely catchy the first 12,000 times) hit. Next time, I will not be so quick as to drop a band from my radar the first time they stumble.
And if a hipster thinks he's too cool to ever like the Rembrandts, you know what? His loss.
(hops off soapbox, nearly stumbles over point-undermining pile of albums including selections from Matchbox 20, Hootie and the Blowfish, Avril Lavigne, and the Spice Girls, but manages to catch balance by grabbing onto a nearby copy of a hipster-envy-inspiring Corn Mo CD and sticks the landing)
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4 comments:
ha! oh, Matt, I think you LIKE bearing the cross of the not-just-a-one-hit-wonder mantle.
And, um, I'd be happy to wave the banner myself, you know, if I had any idea what this "return to form" of theirs *sounded* like... *twiddles thumbs*
Yes, I know... I thought about including some track links but the acquisition is so recent (and I've had little enough free time recently) that it is actually just in my car CD player and has not yet been ripped or 'podded. Soon, I hope...?
you forgot toad the wet sprocket.
mockery aside, I would also appreciate some proof that the rembrandts suck a bit less than previously assumed. bring it!
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